Ethereum Ecosystem Vulnerable Due To Absence Diversity In Contracts

A report shows that smart contracts might be an entry point for bugs to the system.

What Next For Ethereum Smart Contracts?

A study by experts based at the University of Maryland has claimed that Ethereum network is at risk due to the absence of variety in smart contracts. In a paper published by these experts, a majority of smart contracts under Ethereum are direct. The risk comes in when a duplicated contract has malware.

The study was backed to some extent by the US NSF. The experts reviewed smart contracts bytecodes in the course of initial 5 million blocks. This is a three year period since Ethereum was established. Additionally, the experts looked at improved information through Ethereum’s VM called geth. The step was necessary as it allowed logging of all engagements between contracts and users.

Since inception, Ethereum contracts have a high chance of being developed by other contracts, instead of users. The experts discovered that more than 60% of contracts have come across less than 10% of contracts backed by clients. The experts added that we have a top re-utilization of code on ethereum. This practice can lead to a large-scale influence on the ethereum community. Notably, the reuse of code has played a key role in the growth witnessed by ethereum.

Due to unavailability of variations, experts pointed out that ethereum has now become a target for bugs on a number of occasions. The risk has led to the grounding of cryptos valued $170 million. To sum it up, the experts pointed out that the issue can be solved if we have numerous rollouts of the core contract feature on ethereum.

Ethereum, a creation of Vitalik Buterin was designed to be a decentralized platform that contains contracts in conjunction with its primary crypto, ether. Ethereum which hit the market in 2015, is ranked the second crypto in terms of market capitalization. It has a market cap of about $20.6 billion while it's valued at $200.

Last month, a security threat on Ethereum smart contracts was reported. It resulted in a loss of $38,000 for the SpanChain, an adult content firm.

Back in April this year, OKEX exchange paused the trading of all ER20 tokens. All deposits were stopped after a contract with a bug was discovered. Reports indicate that the bug led to the generation of a plethora of tokens by the hackers.